Killer ant
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2008-06-15T17:00:21Z
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{{Cleanup|date=December 2007}}
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! Picture
! Name
! Range
! Comments
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| [[Image:Velvet ant.jpg|150px|Velvet ant]]
| [[Velvet ant]], family [[Mutillidae]]
| USA, Canada
| Velvet ants are popularly known as "cow killers", but this is a fanciful name; they cannot kill animals as large as cows. There are hundreds of species: two of the most well-known are ''[[Dasymutilla occidentalis]]'' in the eastern USA, and ''[[Dasymutilla magnifica]]'', in the western USA.
Note that velvet ants are not ants proper: that is, they are not members of the ant family [[Formicidae]], but are actually wingless wasps in the family [[Mutillidae]]. [http://ag.arizona.edu/urbanipm/insects/bees/velvetants.html]
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| [[Image:Fire ants02.jpg|150px|Red imported fire ant]]
| [[Red imported fire ant]], ''Solenopsis invicta''
| Americas, Southern China, Australia
| Fire ants are aggressive and have a painful sting. A person typically encounters fire ants by inadvertently stepping into one of their mounds, which causes the ants to swarm up the person's legs, attacking en masse. The ants respond to [[pheromone]]s that are released by the first ant to attack. The ants then swarm and immediately sting when any movement is sensed.
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| [[Image:Argentine ant.jpg|150px|Argentine ant]]
| [[Argentine ant]], ''Linepithema humile''
| Argentina, Southern Europe, Southern USA, California
| Very small, attack mostly other ants. The main [[Ant colony#Unicoloniality and supercolonies|supercolony]] (Italy, Atlantic coast of Spain) is said to be the largest cooperating ant population in the World.
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| [[Pharaoh ant]], ''Monomorium pharaonis''
| Worldwide
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| [[Image:Ant head closeup.jpg|150px|Red harvester ant]]
| [[Red harvester ant]], ''Pogonomyrmex barbatus''
| Western USA
| Bright red myrmicine ants whose venom is the most potent of any ants species. [http://www.tightloop.com/ants/pogbar.htm Images]
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| [[Image:Red bull ant.jpg|150px|Red Bulldog Ant]]
| [[Bulldog ant]]s, genus ''Myrmecia''
| Australia
| They are said to be repelled by yellow objects. Belonging to the subfamily [[Myrmeciinae]], these are among the most primitive extant ants. All but one of the sixty or so species are found in Australia.
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| [[Image:Paraponera.png|150px|Bullet Ant]]
| [[Bullet ant]]s, genus ''Paraponera''
| From [[Nicaragua]] southward to the [[Amazon Basin]]
| Bullet ants, and their close relatives of the genus ''[[Dinoponera]]'' are New World [[Ponerinae|ponerines]].
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| [[Legionnaire ant]] genus ''[[Polyergus]]''
| ''range?''
|
Legionnaire ants are most interesting southern boreal obligate [[dulosis|dulotes]] of the [[Formicinae]] subfamily. Their host is, like a similar convergent species, ''[[Formica sanguinea]]'', ants of the ''[[Formica fusca]]'' group. Although absent from the [[British Isles]], ''[[Polyergus rufescens]]'' is present on the continent, and many observations of its behaviour were made by [[Auguste-Henri Forel]].
Like the unrelated British-found [[parasite]] to ''[[Tetramorium caespitum]]'', ''[[Strongylodus testaceus]]'' (first discovered in Britain by [[Horace Donisthorpe]]), the legionnaire ants display greatly adapted, strongly falcate mandibles, which they use for piercing the heads of ''F. fusca'' et al. during raids.
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| [[Image:Starr 050610 2340 anoplolepis gracilipes.jpg|150px|Yellow crazy ant]]
| [[Yellow crazy ant]], ''Anoplolepis gracilipes''
| [[Christmas Island]]
| They kill [[red crab]]s on [[Christmas Island]], and generally destroy the ecosystem for the other 17 species of terrestrial crab found there, including the largest terrestrial invertebrate in the known world (the [[coconut crab]]).
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| [[Image:Safari ants.jpg|150px|Driver Ants]]
| [[Driver ant]]s, genus [[Dorylus]]
| The Old world, esp. West Africa and the Congo Basin
| Unlike the army ants of the New World, Old World army ants have a functional sting, but rarely use it; this is more than compensated for by their razor-sharp, falcate mandibles. ''[[Dorylus]]'' spp. colonies also reach larger sizes than ''[[Eciton]]''. The Siafu ants on Mount Meru in Tanzania were implicated in the death of a missing tourist to the Congo.
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<references />
== See also ==
* [[Killer bee]]
== Killer ants in popular culture ==
Horror movies or novels involving fictitious killer ants include:
* "[[Empire of the Ants]]" (1905 short story by H. G. Wells)
* ''[[Them!]]'' (1954)
* ''[[The Naked Jungle]]'' (1954)
* ''[[The Monolith Monsters]]'' (1957)
* ''[[Phase IV]]'' (1973)
* ''[[The Deadly Invasion]]'' (1973)
* ''[[Ants (TVM 1977)|Ants]]'' (1977 - TV movie)
* ''[[Empire of the Ants (film)|Empire of the Ants]]'' (1977 film)
* ''[[MacGyver]]'' (episode "Trumbo's World")
* ''[[It Came From the Desert]]'' (1989 - video game)
* ''[[Attack of the Killer Ants]]'' (1996 - novel)
* ''[[Legion of Fire: Killer Ants!]]'' (1998 - TV movie)
* ''[[Destination;Infestation]]'' (2007)
* ''[[The Hive]]'' (movie)
* ''[[Leiningen versus the Ants]]'' (short story) by Carl Stephenson
* ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' (2008)
[[Category:Ants]]
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